Deadly terror attacks on places of worship over the last decade

Deadly terror attacks on places of worship over the last decade

A number of places of worship around the world, a place of reflection and peace, have been targeted by extremists. Here are some of the deadliest attacks over the last decade:

October 31 2010
Al Qaida in Iraq militants attack Our Lady of Salvation Catholic Church in Baghdad during Sunday night mass, killing 58 people in the deadliest attack targeting Christians since the 2003 US-led invasion there. Al Qaida in Iraq later became the Islamic State (IS) group.

December 15 2010
Two suicide bombers from the Sunni extremist group Jundallah blow themselves up near a mosque in south-eastern Iran, including six Revolutionary Guard commanders.

August 5 2012
Six members of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, in Oak Creek, are gunned down by a white supremacist, Wade Michael Page. Page is shot by a responding officer and later kills himself.

November 18 2014
Two Palestinians using axes, knives and a gun kill four Jewish worshippers and an Israeli police officer in an attack on a Jerusalem synagogue.

January 30 2015
A suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in the Pakistani town of Shikarpur kills 71 people. Jundullah claims responsibility.

June 17 2015
Nine black worshippers including a pastor are killed by Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old white supremacist, after he prayed with them in Charleston, South Carolina. Roof is convicted of federal hate-crime and obstruction-of-religion charges, and sentenced to death.

September 24 2015
A suicide bomber strikes a mosque in Sana’a, Yemen’s rebel-held capital, killing 25 worshippers during prayers for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

November 12 2016
A suicide bomber from Islamic State kills more than 50 people at the shrine of Shah Noorani, in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province.

January 29 2017
A gunman killed six men during evening prayers at the Islamic Cultural Centre in Quebec City. Alexandre Bissonnette pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and attempted murder charges and was sentenced to serve 40 years in prison before being eligible for parole.

February 16 2017
A suicide bomber detonates his explosives vest among devotees at the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Pakistan’s Sindh province, killing 98.

April 9 2017
Twin suicide bombings rock churches in the Egyptian coastal city of Alexandria and Tanta, killing at least 45 people. The attack is claimed by IS.

June 15 2017
A suicide bomber kills four people at a Shiite mosque in Afghanistan’s capital city of Kabul. Among the dead is a leader of Afghanistan’s ethnic Hazaras, who are mostly Shiite Muslims.

August 1 2017
A suicide bomber storms into the largest Shiite mosque in Afghanistan’s western Herat province, opening fire on worshippers before blowing himself up, killing at least 90 people. Hundreds more are wounded in the attack during evening prayers.

August 25 2017
Militants storm a packed Shiite mosque in Kabul during Friday prayers. The attack ends with at least 28 worshippers killed and 50 wounded, many of them children. Two of the assailants blow themselves up and another two are shot dead by security forces.

September 29 2017
A suicide bomber blows himself up outside a Shiite mosque in Kabul, killing five, as worshippers leave after Friday prayers.

October 20 2017
IS claims a suicide bomb attack that kills 31 and wounds 29 at a Shiite mosque in Kabul.

November 5 2017
Dressed in black tactical-style gear and armed with an assault weapon, 26-year-old Devin Kelley opens fire at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas, killing 26 people and wounding around 20 others.

November 24 2017
Militants kill 311 worshippers in a mosque attack in north Sinai, the deadliest such terrorist attack in Egypt’s modern history.

December 17 2017
An Islamic State attack on a church in the Pakistani city of Quetta kills 16 people.

October 27 2018
A gunman believed to have posted anti-Semitic slurs and rhetoric on social media enters the Tree of Life Congregation synagogue in Pittsburgh and opens fire, killing 11 people and wounding six others, including four police officers.

January 27 2019
Two suicide attackers detonate two bombs during a mass in a Roman Catholic cathedral on the largely Muslim island of Jolo in the southern Philippines, killing 23 and wounding about 100 others. Three days later, an attacker hurls a grenade in a mosque in nearby Zamboanga city, killing two religious teachers.

March 15 2019
At least 49 people are killed in an attack at mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch.

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